Hide and Seek
by nyakattia
Summary: While they search the city for a murderer, Lindsay hides secrets of her own from Danny. DL. 7th in the Climb This Mountain series! Now Complete!
1. Chapter 1

_it's hard i must confess/ but i'm banking on the rest to clear away/ 'cause we have spoken everything/ everything short of i love..._

The Frey, _Hundred_

The harsh beeping awoke her suddenly, pulling her out of her dreams. As she opened her eyes she felt movement on the other side of the bed as Danny sat up, reaching around her, blindly searching the bedside table. She rolled over as he pulled back, pager in hand.

"It's me," he said. He looked over at her for a moment and the leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Go back ta sleep."

But she watched as he climbed out of bed, searching around her tiny bedroom for his clothes, so hastily discarded just a few hours before. Even in the dark she could see just how beautiful he was. She had to admit, that Danny Messer was the hottest guy she had ever slept with. The hottest guy she had ever... cared about.

She broke off her train of thought as a shiver ran down her spine.

"What time is it?"

He looked back at her as he grabbed his coat, clipping his badge back onto his belt. "Nearly two." He walked back over to her and kissed her again, on the lips this time. Then he drew away. "Go back ta sleep Montana. See ya later."

But she watched as he left the room, listened as he moved through the apartment, and waited for the click of the front door closing behind him. She sighed and tried to go back to sleep.

Her eyes were still open twenty minutes later when her own pager went off.

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It was no longer snowing in New York, but the nights remained bitterly cold. Danny rubbed his hands together to warm them as he ran up the subway stairs and walked into the park. Pulling his knit cap down further over his ears, he made his way over to where the flashing blue and red lights marked the crime scene.

"Hey, Mac," he greeted his boss. Mac looked up from where he was crouching near the body of a young man. The body was propped up against the side of the fountain, it's position awkward in death.

"Danny," Mac greeted him. "Grab the camera out of the car, would you?"

He did so and proceeded to blanket the scene with pictures, playing particular attention to the body to the kid. He barely looked eighteen; but the wallet Mac pulled out of his coat pocket, cards and money still inside, also contained his drivers license. Casey Stratton, a student at NYU, would have been twenty in another month.

Blood was pooled around the gunshot wound in his chest. Danny knew enough anatomy by now to figure out that the bullet had probably hit his heart. When Hawkes showed up five minutes later, he agreed. Death was almost instantaneous.

The sole witness, a middle aged man who had been jogging through the darkened park, gave them his statement. He had turned a corner in the path and had almost run into someone running the other way. The witness had stopped to yell obscenities after the young man, and when he tuned back around he saw the body near the fountain.

The suspect was a little shorter than the 6 foot witness, Caucasian with shaggy blond hair and wearing dark jeans, a light colored shirt and a puffy jacket. A description had already gone out over the radio. All that was left for the uniforms to do was to shake their heads at the hapless jogger's ill luck- and possible insanity for jogging through the park at 1am.

Danny found a blood trail along the path leading away from the fountain, but it stopped within thirty feet. Photographing the blood and collecting sample, he made his way back to the fountain where Hawkes was supervising the body being loaded into the van to be transported to the morgue.

Hawkes pulled the collar of his coat higher as Danny joined him. "Cold, Doc?"

"I'm getting used to it. The heating in my apartment's been acting up. I just got warm when I got the callout."

Danny smirked. "You mean you weren't sharing body heat?"

Hawkes raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so I take it you were?" He grinned.

Danny shrugged, smirk still in place. He rubbed his hands together again and pulled on his gloves. He hated collecting samples when it was cold. Latex provided very little in the way of warmth retention.

"Didn't I hear something about you saying you don't cuddle?" Hawkes questioned, raising a hand to the driver as the van set off. He and Danny turned back to the crime scene.

"Who said anything about cuddling?" Danny asked innocently.

Hawkes raised and eyebrow but grinned nevertheless. Danny clapped his friend on the back and walked away to sweep the crime scene one last time, making sure he hadn't missed any evidence.

He may have joked about it with Sheldon, but truth was, he was worried. He and Lindsay had only been seeing each other officially for about five weeks, had only been sleeping together for three, had only agreed to start something at Christmas. But something was different.

He didn't know what was going on in her head, and she wasn't telling. He could feel it every time he kissed her, held her. Even after they had sex. And it was killing him to know that there was something she was refusing to say. Something she didn't trust him with.

Especially after everything they had to go through to get to where they were.

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Rugged up against the cold and with a beanie pulled down tight over her wavy curls, Lindsay arrived at the crime scene, kit in hand. She was still trying to shake of the shiver that had haunted her an hour before.

Under a streetlight on the northern edge of the park, Stella and Flack were standing over a body. He was the first to spot her, glancing up from where Stella was pointing at something. "Hey, Monroe."

"Hey," she greeted them, forcing a smile.

"Hey Lindsay," Stella said, watching as her young friend put down her case and pulled off her gloves. "I didn't think you were on call tonight."

Lindsay shrugged. "I wasn't asleep anyway."

Flack kept his gaze on his notebook. "Messer wake you up when he left?" he teased, tongue in cheek.

Stella rolled her eyes and Lindsay felt her face heat up. She wasn't quite ready for all of this.

"Shut up, Flack," Lindsay said, pretending to take his joke in good humor. "What have we got?"

The body was a young man lying on his back, blond hair slightly overlong and shaggy. But, as Lindsay said, his clothes were good quality. He looked like he had been out clubbing and ran into trouble on the way home.

There were two gun shoot wounds- both, the ME's assistant was quick to point out when he arrived a few minutes later, with entrance wounds in the back, and only one with an exit wound at the front.

"He was found like this?" he asked, and Flack nodded.

"Someone rolled him over," Lindsay surmised. "Looks a bit extreme for a simple mugging."

Flack shook his head, handing her a slim black wallet. "Meet Jacob Grant, 20, student at Chelsey U. Money's still there, cards too. I had a look around but couldn't find the weapon."

"Rules out robbery as a motive," Stella said. "If you shoot someone in the back twice then roll them over to make sure you killed them, you must really want them dead."

Lindsay was examining the body closer. Crouching down she gently pulled a bullet free from his clothing. It was badly deformed. "Looks like it hit something, besides the vic, I mean." She handed the plastic tweezers holding the bullet over to Stella.

"How about concrete?" Flack asked. He looked up to find both women staring at him. "What? It's simple. Guy gets shot, guy goes down- face first. Guys gets shot in the back again."

Lindsay was already scouring the concrete path around the body. "Here," she said, pointing out a chip in the concrete surrounded by a smear of blood. "Bullet must have gone through the vic, hit the concrete and somehow stayed in the outer layer of his clothes."

"Point blank range," Stella surmised.

Flack nodded. "Other bullet is probably still in the vic. I'll let you guys do your thing with that one."

Stella grinned. "Thanks."

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See, I didn't forget this series! It just needed to incubate for a bit while I sorted out my life. First case fic, so let me know what you think. Next part will be up in a few days.


	2. Chapter 2

As the sun slipped over the horizon Lindsay scanned the bullet carefully and loaded it into the database. Hopefully the gun had been used before, and they could trace it's origins. Snapping off her gloves she looked up at the photos that were on a loop on the screen on the wall above her. The kid Jacob was twenty; was that old enough to do something that he deserved to die for?

There was a knock on the glass partition and she turned to find Danny walking in the open doorway. "Hey Montana, I got ya some of that fancy mocha fluffy latte stuff you like," he said, grinning as he placed the cup on the desk in front of her and standing close enough that she could feel his body heat.

She smiled at him. She lived for small moments like these when it was just the two of them. "Thanks, Danny. Just what I needed." She took a sip of the drink and closed her eyes, savoring the warmth she could feel spreading through her body.

He leaned against the desk next to her and watched, grinning. She was beautiful, and she was his. And, really, that was all that mattered. Wasn't it?

"What are you workin' on?" he asked.

She opened her eyes again, setting the coffee down on the desk once more. "A student shot in Central Park," she said.

Danny frowned. "Interestin'. My DB was a kid too- he was found at one of the fountains. Where was yours?"

Lindsay cottoned on to his line of thought. "At the northern edge of the park." Turning back to the computer she pulled up at 3D map of Central Park and, with Danny's input, marked in the two locations. "So your guy..." she looked up at him.

"Uh," Danny looked down at the file he was carrying. "Casey Stratton, NYU student... dammit."

"What?" Lindsay asked, putting the information into the computer.

"He's a cop's kid. Dad's a detective at the 4-1," he told her.

Lindsay paused and nodded. "Okay. My guy, Jacob Grant went to Chelsey. Think they knew each other?"

"Possible," Danny shrugged. "Pretty easy to get between the two," he indicated a path on the map. "Except the blood trail from the guy seen running away from Casey's body was in this direction," he drew a line, "directly out of the park."

"Hmm, doesn't mean they're not connected."

"Hey Lindsay," Stella said, entering the lab. "Got the tox screen back. Yours too Danny." She handed him the file.

"Anything relevant?" Lindsay asked.

The older woman shrugged. "He was drunk- blood alcohol level was point one one. And these results indicate there was a significant amount of tetrahydrocannabinol in his system."

"Marijuana," Lindsay said. "Sounds like a party."

Danny looked up from his file. "Casey- my vic," explained to Stella, "was drinkin' too. No drugs in his system though."

"You guys are think these cases are connected?" Stella asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Two college kids shot in the park on the same night? More than a coincidence Stell," Danny said.

She shrugged. "Maybe. You got any hits off the bullet yet?"

"Nope," Lindsay said. "I'm just running-" She was interrupted by a series of beeps from the monitor. "Hmm, okay." She pulled up the files.

"Hey, look at this- the bullet we pulled out of Jacob is a match from another case..."

The older woman stepped closer to read over her shoulder. "Casey Stratton, murdered this morning in Central Park."

"Looks like the cases are connected," Danny said.

Stella nodded. "Okay, you two run with this. Sid should have completed the autopsies by now. Perhaps he will be able to tell you something."

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Sid gave them an approximate time of death for both young men- some time in the three hours before 1am that morning. But while Casey was shot from a distance, Jacob's wounds indicated he was shot from a closer distance- the through and through at point blank range. There was also some bruising on Jacob's body, caused shortly before he died.

"What about their clothes?" Lindsay asked, as they entered layout where the victims' personal belongings had been left that morning.

"Haven't got that far yet," Danny admitted, opening the first bag in the box on the table.

They gloved up and started examining the evidence, Lindsay working on Jacob's clothes while Danny examined Casey's belongings. They shared a few challenging glances here and there, their competitive natures always getting the best of them when they worked together.

"Hmm," he said after a while. He pulled another photograph out of Casey's wallet and held it out to Lindsay. "This might explain somethin'," he said.

The photograph showed two young men kissing passionately. While Casey's face was partially obscured, another young man's wasn't. "It was hidden behind a library card," he told her.

Lindsay raised her eyebrows. "Well that makes things interesting. And so does this."

She motioned for Danny to come around to her side of the table. "Jacob's shirt is covered in blood- mostly around the exit and entrance wounds. But see this here?" she pointed at his sleeve.

Danny leaned closer. "High velocity splatter," he said.

"And the cuffs of his jacket are positive for GSR."

"But what does that mean?" Danny asked. "Jacob and Casey were shot with the same gun and Jacob shot someone..."

"You think Jacob shot Casey? And was then killed with the same gun?" Lindsay asked.

"Yeah, but by who? If Jacob shot Casey at the fountain, who shot him at the northern edge of the park? And how did they get the gun?"

"Maybe he was running away through the park," Lindsay said, working through the ideas as she spoke. "Someone else come along, they struggled, gun went off." She sighed, frustrated. "No, Jacob's killer knew him. He was shot twice- a personal attack. And he wasn't robbed."

"Yeah, and someone was seen running away from Casey's body. Another young man. But if he was there when Casey was shot he didn't have time to run after Jacob, shoot him, and get all the way back to Casey's body before that jogger discovered him," Danny said, frowning. "I don't know, we don't have any proof that he was shot because he killed Casey either. It could be unrelated."

"What about a lovers spat? If Casey was gay, maybe he was killed because he was cheating on someone... I don't know, we'll have to wait for typing and DNA results from the clothes. But there are also some gravitational drops, here on Jacob's jacket." She pointed at a few isolated drops of blood on the hem. "I think that happened when whoever killed him rolled him over."

"Send it up to DNA, maybe we'll get lucky and he'll be in CODIS," Danny said, not holding out much hope.

"Already got the samples," Lindsay smirked. "Have the bullets matched up to anything else in the system?"

"Nothing. We'll have to find the gun ourselves. Whoever has it now is probably Jacob's killer."

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Please forgive the lateness of this post. I had work, and then I discovered part of chapter two should be in chapter three and vise versa, and lets face it, that season premiere was pretty distracting too. I have now reedited up to chapter four, so the next one will be up before the new episode. Promise.

As always, let me know what you think (and feel free to point out any mistakes!)


	3. Chapter 3

By lunchtime they had obtained the necessary warrants to search both victims dorm rooms. Jacob Grant's roommate was clearly hungover, letting them in without comment and sitting back down on his bed. Lindsay eyed his overly long messy hair and bloodshot eyes and decided to leave him alone.

As she searched the draws for weapons or drugs, Danny looked at the desk and billboard on Jacob's side of the room. Pinned to the notice board were several pictures. One, a family shot including Jacob Grant looked like it was taken outside somewhere. But it was the second photo that caught his attention.

Pulling it off the wall, he took it over to the roommate, snapping his fingers in front of his face to see if the young man was still awake. "Hey, who is this with Jacob?" he asked, shoving the photograph in the young man's face.

He blinked twice. "Uh, that's um, what's his name again?..." Danny fought the urge to smack him. "Oh yeah, like Daniel... no, David, David. He and Jacob come from the same town in hicksville somewhere upstate. I think he goes to NYU?"

"David who?" Danny asked.

"I don't know dude, I only met him once. Me and Jacob aren't that close, you know. But uh, I think he was going out with that guy last night. It's his birthday or something."

Danny raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Lindsay, fishing out an evidence bag to slide the photograph into. She nodded to indicated she had heard their conversation.

"Were Jacob and David just friends?" Danny asked, placing an emphasis on the last two words.

"What? Yeah, no way, man. Jacob wasn't like that. I mean, he has girls over all the time. And he thought it was wrong, you know. Immoral or somethin'. I told you, he comes from hicksville."

Lindsay moved over to join them. "There's nothing here," she said. "Let's get over to NYU." They headed for the door.

"Uh, hey, what's this about?" the roommate asked. "What did Jacob do?"

Danny and Lindsay exchanged a glance. "Sorry kid, he's dead," Danny said. "If you think of anything else, here's my card okay?"

The young man shrugged. "That's all I know dude, sorry." He lay back down on the bed and appeared to go back to sleep, obviously unperturbed by the news.

As they got into the car, Danny handed the photo to Lindsay. "Recognize him?" he asked pointing at the young man next to Jacob.

"The boy in the photograph with Casey," Lindsay said.

As Danny drove to NYU, she checked their files. "Hey it looks like Casey's roommate is a kid named David Miller." She looked up at him as he glanced towards her.

"That's no coincidence Montana. These two boys probably knew each other. This guy David was Jacob's friend from high school, and had a thing with Casey. He has to be the link."

"Yeah," Lindsay said, turning back to the file.

Danny turned the corner and smoothly pulled into a car park outside campus. "Hey," he said, turning the engine off. "You wanna go out with the guys tonight?"

She smiled but he recognized the look in her eyes. The same look she had every time he had suggested a group outing in the last few weeks. "No, I think I'd rather stay in."

"You wanna come over then? I'll clean up a bit first," he joked.

"Sure," she said, before getting out of the car. "I'm in the mood for Chinese."

Danny joined her on the sidewalk, remotely locking the car. "Sounds good."

A few minutes later, after getting directions from campus staff, they were knocking on the door of Casey's dorm room. "Why is he living in a dorm anyway?" Lindsay asked. "Isn't he a New Yorker?"

Danny shrugged. "Maybe he wanted to get out of home. Dad's a cop so that's understandable."

Lindsay was about to say something else when the door opened. A young man with shaggy blond hair looked at them in surprise. A young man they recognized.

"Hello David," Danny said. "NYPD."

------------------------------

"That was just stupid," Danny said, dumping a handcuffed David back onto his bed.

As soon as Danny had identified himself the younger man had slammed the door in their faces. Danny caught it with the palm of his hand, shoving it back open and entering the room. David was at the window, attempting to climb out onto the fire escape outside.

As Danny grabbed him and hauled him back into the room, the younger man had lashed out. His technique wasn't very good, but his anger lent power to his fists, and he landed a heavy punch to Danny's jaw. Lindsay grabbed him from behind, cuffing David's hands behind his back after the two of them had wrestled him to the ground.

Hands free now, Danny worked his jaw beneath his hands. Lindsay watched him, concerned. "You okay?" she asked, reaching out to examine the area herself.

"Yeah, had worse," he said. After meeting her eyes for a moment he pulled away and turned back to the young man on the bed. "Consider yourself under arrest for assaulting an officer, David. Now, where were you last night?"

There was no response. "How are you involved with Casey Stratton and Jacob Miller?"

David remained silent. "Okay then," Danny said, "we'll talk down at the station." He read him his rights and, when back up arrived, handed him off to be taken to the station.

Meanwhile Lindsay was searching the small room, finding the same photograph of David and Jacob pinned to David's wall. She showed Danny and bagged it, moving on to search through his desk. Danny poked through Casey's desk and garbage bin.

"Someones getting a lot of action," he said, tipping the bin so Lindsay could see inside. There were at least three condoms visible between the trash.

"We'll have to check DNA on those," Lindsay pointed out. "If Casey and David were a couple we need to know if either one was seeing someone on the side."

"Here in the dorm? Danny asked. "That'd take balls."

"Yeah but the chance of getting caught is half the fun, Messer," she smirked at him.

He grinned back, idly wondering if she was willing to test that theory as he bagged the contents of the bin. He moved over to Casey's side of the room, examining the desk. There were two framed photographs- one of Casey and the rest of his family, his dad in dress uniform.

Casey and his parents were smiling but another young man- an older brother he figured from the resemblance- was looking slightly away from the camera, face devoid of any detectable emotion. There was a noticeable tension between him and his parents.

The other photograph was of three young men- Casey, David and the brother- obviously on a night out. Casey was sitting in the middle, his arms around the other two as they raised their drinks. Casey and his brother were grinning at the camera but David was looking at Casey.

He bagged them and looked carefully around the rest of the room but was unable to find a gun. "I'm drawing a blank, Montana," he said. "How are you doin'?"

"Well we may not know the motive, but David was definitely there," she said, pulling a bundle of clothes out of the closet. A pair of jeans, a light blue shirt and a jacket- all covered in blood. Clothes described to them as being worn by the man seen running away from Casey's body.

Danny smiled. "Good work, Montana. Let's see him explain this."

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We're getting more information... anyone figured it out yet? (Here's a hint- it wasn't Jacob's roommate, he doesn't have a name. It's the same here as it is on the show- you only get a name if you're important!)

As always, let me know what you think... Especially if I've stuffed up!


	4. Chapter 4

"Hands out please," Lindsay said, sitting down across the table from David Miller. Jacob's roommate had been right. It had been his birthday yesterday- he had turned twenty.

Reluctantly the young man complied, and Lindsay patted his hands down with small pads. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm testing to see if you have any gunshot residue on your hands," she said. "That will tell us if you fired a gun recently." She sprayed an indicator on each pad but they failed to reveal anything.

"Yeah, well I haven't," David said defiantly.

"So why were your clothes covered in blood?" Lindsay asked. "And how come you fit the description of someone seen running away from the scene?" She didn't really consider him a suspect, but they had enough to hold him for now. They needed him to tell them what happened- and if he knew who killed Jacob.

He slumped back into his chair, crossing his arms. "When's my lawyer getting here?" he asked.

"Don't know," Lindsay said. "Since you asked for a public defender it could be a few more hours yet."

She gathered up the supplies and left the room, placing the pads in evidence bags and marking each one. She secured it with the rest of the evidence and headed back to layout where Danny was examining the clothes she had found.

"Any luck?" he asked, looking up as she entered the room.

"Negative for GSR. He's claiming he hasn't fired a gun recently but refuses to say anything else till his lawyer gets here. How are you going?"

"Not well," he replied, frowning at the clothes. "Lots of blood but most of it seems to be transfer. I found some high velocity splatter, but it was on the back of his jacket. He may have been there when Casey was shot, but he didn't shoot Jacob."

"So we're still looking for Jacob's killer. Maybe David can give us some insight into who would want to kill his friend."

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David's lawyer arrived later that afternoon, and started questioning their case against his client as soon as Danny and Lindsay entered the room.

"Shut up," Danny said. "Your client assaulted me when I tried to question him, which was witnessed by Detective Monroe." He indicated Lindsay.

"As for the murder of Casey Stratton," he continued as the lawyer opened his mouth again, "there was a significant amount of blood on clothes found in his closet, and someone matching his description was seeing fleeing the scene."

Danny leaned forward. "We know about you and Casey, David." He placed the photograph from Casey's wallet, encased in an evidence bag, on the table in front of him. Then, beside it, a crime scene photograph. They watched him pale. "So what happened? A lover's tiff?"

He glared at them, but didn't answer. "If your client has nothing to hide then it would benefit him to help us out. Tell us what happened last night. If he's involved and he doesn't tell us now it could get much worse."

"I didn't do anything!" David yelled. His lawyer placed a hand on his arm to restrain him.

Danny leaned back in his chair and Lindsay took over the interview. "You loved him, didn't you David," she said, smiling softly and changing the tone of the interview. "We know you come from a small town. I did too, so I know what it's like. It can't have been easy being gay."

She paused, waiting to see if her would react. His eyes flickered towards her. "So it was great when you came to the city right? Here no one knows or cares what you do. After eighteen years of denying it you can finally let that part of you out. It's like you're free." She smiled, glancing sideways for a moment to meet Danny's gaze.

"And then you met Casey, your roommate this year. And the two of you fell in love. For the first time in your life."

She smiled softly at him again. "You didn't kill him did you?"

He shook his head vigorously, upset by her words.

"Jacob did, didn't he?"

He started crying, his shoulders shaking as he dropped his head to his chest. Then he nodded.

"Detectives, I fail to see..." The lawyer butted in. Danny glared at him, but it was David who shut him up.

"No. I want to talk," he said. "Where's Jacob?"

Danny and Lindsay exchanged a look. "Tell us what happened, David," Lindsay said.

"It was my birthday, it was meant to be a great night. I hadn't seen Jacob in weeks- we'd kinda grown apart since we started college. We all got trashed and we were walking through the park. Casey and I got separated from-" there was a sudden pause. "Um, Jacob." Danny and Lindsay exchanged a glance, agreeing silently that David had just left something out of his story.

"We were kissing when suddenly I turned around and Jacob what there." He sniffed. "He was high... he started yelling and waving the gun around. He thought Casey had corrupted me or something. He always hated gay people so I never told him I was gay. I ran towards him, I was trying to get the gun off him and he shot behind me. He shot Casey."

He started sobbing. Lindsay reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What happened then?" she asked.

He wiped furiously at his tears. "I don't know, he ran off. I stayed till Casey died and then I just got out."

"Where'd he get the gun from?" Danny asked.

He frowned. "I don't know. He must've got it from somewhere."

Danny leaned forward again. "I don't believe you," he said. "Jacob's dead, David. Someone killed him with the same gun he used to kill Casey. Someone else was there last night."

"That's enough," the lawyer butted in. "My client has answered your questions, Detective, now charge him or let him go."

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"He's lying about the gun," Lindsay said back in their office after they released David. They knew he was hiding something, but Danny, recognizing the grief in the young man's eyes, hadn't pressed charges. "And there was someone else there- someone shot Jacob."

Danny growled in frustration. "Who's he protecting?

Lindsay shook her head. "We might just have to wait for the DNA results to come through in a few days." She checked her watch. It was evening now, and past time for them to go off shift. "Tomorrow we need to go interview Casey's parents, and his brother, George. You know, I'm thinking he might know something more about this. He was pretty close to Casey and David." She picked up the picture of the three young men together.

"Hmm," Danny replied. Lindsay smiled, put the picture back with the other evidence and grabbed her coat and bag.

"Come on," she said. "You promised me a clean apartment and Chinese. We can get back to this in the morning." She moved to his side of the desk and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

He rolled his eyes playfully at her actions but switched off his computer and picked up his bag. "Okay, Montana, we'll do this your way."

He reached out for her hand and they walked out together, connected by their entwined fingers.

"You want ta watch a game or somethin'?" he asked as the elevator doors dinged open.

Lindsay shrugged and was about to respond when Flack walked out of the elevator. "Oh, look," he said. "It's the crime labs favorite couple. See what happens when you don't take me to interview suspects?" He indicated Danny's jaw, which was red and a little swollen.

Lindsay rolled her eyes in jest, but Danny felt her hand tense and clutch his a little tighter. "What are you doing here, Flack?" she asked as she walked into the elevator, Danny behind her. He tried to follow her lead in the conversation but he could tell that something was wrong. She was shying away from his friend- and him.

Flack held up some files. "Playin' delivery boy, Monroe. Stella still around?"

Danny pressed the button for the lobby but held the doors open as they talked. "Nope, went home about an hour ago," he said, watch his girlfriend out of the corner of his eye. If he hadn't been touching her, he wouldn't have known anything was wrong.

"Okay then," Flack shrugged. "I'll leave these on her desk. You lovebirds have a good evening now."

He turned to walk away and Danny let the doors close. After a moment he felt Lindsay relax, just slightly. And he couldn't take it anymore.

He drew her close, untwining their fingers so he could wrap an arm around her shoulders. He placed his head right near her ear and murmured softly.

"What's goin' on wit' you Montana?" he asked softly, his accent thickening with emotion. He felt her shy away a little and made sure not to hold her too tight. "Somethin's wrong an' it's killin' me that you won't tell me what it is."

She turned slightly to look up at him, her eyes sad. "It's nothing."

"No, if it's botherin' you it ain't nothin' Montana. I ain't losin' you over somethin' you won't tell me about." He was scared in a way he had only been once before- only a few weeks ago. Especially since his best friend seemed to have something to do with his girlfriend's demeanor.

The elevator doors dinged open, and she pulled away from him to exit into the lobby. He followed her out, his heart sinking. She turned to face him.

"Okay," she said. "Let's go home. I'll tell you."

She reached forwards and grasped his hand in hers. "I hadn't realized it was affecting you, Danny. I don't want to lose you either."

He pulled her into a tight hug there in the middle of the lobby, and sighed in relief. "Anythin' that's botherin' you, is botherin' me, Montana, remember that."

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An extra long chapter, because it just sort of happened that way after I had to change everything around. Good news is, I have now finished this story, and all it needs is a bit of editing.

Anyone think they knew who the killer is? Or why Lindsay gets anxious around Flack? All will be revealed very soon...


	5. Chapter 5

Danny watched as Lindsay asked the Strattons questions about their youngest son. That morning, when they had been lying in bed together- not cuddling, just lying together- he felt no distance between them. All he needed to do was tell her how he felt.

_--_

"_It's nothing really," she said, after they had eaten and settled on the couch._

_He shook his head and slung his arm around her shoulders. "Tell me anyway, Montana."_

_She bit her lip. "It's just..." she turned to face him. "It took us so long to get here, and I thought now that we were, I could handle anything." She smiled a little sadly and his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. She wasn't breaking up with him, was she? Not after everything they had gone through._

"_But sometimes it seems like everyone's dissecting us before we even know what us means..." she continued. "And I just feel like I'm in this great risky... thing," she indicated the two of them, "and I don't even know what this is."_

_She watched him react to her statement, hurrying on. "I know it's too early to be asking that question. But I just need to know something."_

_Danny brushed a few loose curls out of her face, twisting them around his fingers. "This is what you've been worryin' about?"_

_She stared in his eyes, as if she was trying to read his mind. "I'm sorry, please don't freak out, I'm not really looking for a declaration of..." she stopped herself, "anything."_

"_An' this is why you reacted to Flack in the elevator?"_

_She nodded, hanging her head low. "It's just, too much sometimes, you know? But it never seemed to affect you, so I was wondering..." she didn't speak the rest of the sentence, but he heard her anyway. She thought she didn't mean as much to him as he did to her._

"_Lindsay," he said to her. She looked up, searching his eyes. He rarely called her by her given name, preferring the one he gave her. "You don't need to worry about us. I care about you a lot, and as far as I am concerned we're in this together."_

--

He should have realized of course. In his experience women always wanted to know how he felt, which had been irritating because they wanted him to profess to things he simply didn't feel. Lindsay had never asked until last night, but he had found himself feeling none of that usual annoyance when she did. He just told her the truth.

"Did you know Casey's roommate, David Miller?" Flack asked from where he was standing behind the couch his colleagues were sitting on.

Casey's mother frowned. "Yes I believe we've met him once or twice. I don't think they were very close."

The three detectives exchanged looks. "Mrs Stratton," Lindsay leaned forward, a sympathetic smile on her face. "Were you aware that your son was gay?"

She paled. Beside her, her husband reddened. "What?" he asked incredulously. "No, he wasn't, we met his girlfriend a few months ago. Didn't we?" he almost demanded of his wife.

"Well," she replied slowly. "Yes, we did..."

"But?" Lindsay asked.

She shook her head. "But I thought they were more friends than, you know, boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Casey's father asked quietly.

She looked like she was about to cry. "I couldn't, not after the way you reacted when George told you that he..." She started crying in earnest, and Lindsay offered her some tissues she found on the side table.

"We believe that Casey was murdered because he was seen kissing a young man he was in a relationship with," Danny informed them. He watched Casey's father as he fisted his hands.

"And this David- his roommate- he did it?" Mrs Stratton asked.

"No, he saw what happened. The man we believe shot Casey was later murdered."

"Detective," Flack said, addressing Casey's father. "How many guns do you own?"

"I have two- my service weapon and one I keep in my study. Why?"

"I'm sorry sir, but do you mind if we check both weapons? It's just procedure, you understand." It wasn't really a request and Casey's father knew that.

He narrowed his eyes, but nodded. "Of course," he stood, leaving his wife by herself. Lindsay shifted to sit beside her, offering comfort, nodding for Danny to follow the other men out of the room.

Detective Stratton's service weapon was in a locked hall stand. Danny snapped on some gloves and examined the gun to see if it had been fired recently but he already knew this wasn't the gun they were after. If this gun had been used then it would have come up when they ran the bullets through the system.

Danny looked up at Flack and shook his head.

--

_He kissed her softly. "You know if Flack's bothering you..."_

_She shook her head, placing her hand over his mouth. "Don't. Don't even say it. I would never ask you to choose between me and your best friend, Danny."_

_When she pulled her hand away, he captured it in one of his. "I could just, talk to him about it," he suggested_

"_And say what? Do you want to tell him to stop being himself because he occasionally upsets your girlfriend? It's not him, it's me."_

"_Then what can I do? I'll do almost anythin' to make you happy, Montana."_

"_You already said it. I'm sorry- I guess I just needed to know that you were with me. It's silly, I knew you were."_

"_No, you're right, I never said it." He took her head in his hands. "We're in this together, Montana."_

_She smiled. "Thank you. Especially for understanding. I... care about you too, Danny. A whole heap."_

--

Danny was pulled out of his memories when Casey's father handed him his back up piece in the study. He raised his eyebrows. This was supposed to be a simple elimination search. Instead, he had a feeling they had just found the weapon used to kill Casey Stratton and Jacob Grant. "Detective, have you fired this gun recently?"

The older man frowned. "No, it's just been sitting in that draw for months... why?"

Danny nodded to Flack, pulling an evidence bag out of his back pocket. It always payed to carry one or two around, along with the gloves, just in case. And this weapon had been recently fired.

His friend raised an eyebrow and turned back to Detective Stratton. "Who has access to your study?"

"What is this?" Detective Stratton asked, looking from one to the other. "You think I murdered my son's killer?" He tapped his knuckles against the desk, repressed rage clearly evident in his stance. "I was working that night, check with my station. We only got the call a few minutes after I got home. God, I tried to protect them..."

"Detective, who has access to that gun?" Flack asked again.

"The draw isn't locked... it could have been anyone. I... don't know. Ask my wife."

------------------------

"Mrs Stratton," Lindsay asked as she sat beside the quietly weeping woman. "Where is your other son?"

"I don't know... he came home yesterday and we had to tell him... he was just so angry."

She smiled gently. "He and Casey were close, weren't they?"

"Yes," the older woman nodded. "They were best friends. George... well," she swallowed. "George always goes his own way, and we aren't always as... supportive of him as we could be. But he and Casey were always the best of friends. There is only a little over a year between them, you see. Casey was... a bit of a surprise. A blessing." She broke down again, crying into the tissues.

Lindsay looked up as the two men reentered the room and Danny held up the gun, now encased in a plastic evidence bag. She nodded at him, and they stayed standing at the door, waiting for her to join them. She watched her boyfriend while she waited for the woman beside her to calm down.

It had been really hard to not just tell him last night. To say, everyday I fall a little more in love with you and I never want to stop. To just whisper three words she held close to her heart. They were so new and wonderful, and it was too soon. She wasn't meant to love him yet.

So she had kissed him instead, and showed him. And hoped.

She pulled herself back to focus on the woman in front of her. "Mrs Stratton, do you know where George lives now?"

The older woman wiped at her face. "He's living with a friend, I'm not quite sure where. My husband... we don't really have much contact these days. I know he works in a bar somewhere, I think he left a card once. I put it away before... anyway, I'll get it for you."

----------------------------

I hadn't realized how much I had made it seem like the reason Lindsay was tense around Flack was because of some feeling between them. I hope you all like this reason more!

A huge thank you to all of my reviewers. I get up each morning and check the internet, and when I see my email inbox filled with notices of reviews, and alerts, and favorites... you all make my day. Thank you.


	6. Chapter 6

Danny and Flack found George Stratton in the small dark bar, setting up for the evening. Danny recognize him from the photograph- a tall, muscular man with hair a shade or two darker than his brother's.

"Yeah, that's me," he said when they asked for him.

Danny held out his badge and identified himself. "We're investigating the murder of your brother Casey, and Jacob Grant in the park, night before last."

George pulled another stool from where it was resting on a table. "You caught the guy yet?" he asked as he worked.

"You don't seem all that concerned," Flack said.

George shrugged, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead. "Look, yeah, I'd like to teach the guy who killed my brother a thing or two. But I really couldn't care less about that asshole."

"You mean Grant? You don't like him, George?"

He turned his back on him, wiping a cloth over the table. "He's a homophobic prick, and an idiot. Like I said, couldn't care less that he's dead."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have had anything to do with that, would you?"

He turned back to them, one eyebrow raised. "Am I going to need a lawyer for this little chat?"

"I don't know, George," Flack said. "Got something to hide?"

He crossed his arms and the other bartender chose that moment to interrupt. "Hey, what's going on?"

George rolled his eyes at them. "Nothing, man. Just a couple of detectives bugging me about Casey and that other kid."

"And you are?" Flack asked.

"Trey Keaton," he replied, pushing back the long dark hair that had fallen across his face. "What's up?"

"You two mind telling us where you were night before last?"

The two young men exchanged a glance. "I was working till late," Trey said. "After that I just crashed."

"And you?" Danny asked.

George shrugged again. "I was out with Casey and David for a bit. That asshole was with them, so I bailed and went home."

"Anyone confirm that?"

"Yeah, me. We share a place nearby," Trey said. "He was home when I got in."

"What time was that?"

"Around three, little after."

Danny raised an eyebrow and turned back to George. "Where were you out exactly?"

"We were here for a bit- we left sometime after midnight."

"And after that?"

"I went home."

"Do you have access to your father's study?"

He snarled. "Me and dad don't exactly get on, you know? But yeah, I go 'round there when he's not home, to see mum. Now, if you'll excuse me, we have a business to run."

"One last thing," Flack said. "Do you have any tapes from the camera's for that night?" He indicated the small black box he could see in one corner of the room.

George stepped forward, but Trey placed a calming hand on his arm. "Yeah, I'll get them for you."

------------------------

"I'm liking the brother for this," Flack said as they stepped out of the elevator back at the lab. "He hasn't got an alibi, and he has motive."

"It's not enough yet," Danny said. "We'll have to wait on the results."

Flack raised an eyebrow, but was distracted before he could comment further. "Hey Stell," he said, coming to a halt as she passed them in the hallway. "Did you get those files I left?"

"Yeah, thanks Flack," she replied. She sent them both a smile and continued on her way at her usual speed.

"Hey man, can I talk to you a moment?" Danny asked, looking around them. They were standing not far from the ballistics and he could see Lindsay inside, examining the gun the found at the Stratton's. She meant more to him than anyone ever had before.

His friend raised an eyebrow. "Sure, what's up?"

A few minutes later they entered the lab. Lindsay looked up and smiled. "Good news, this is definitely the gun that was used to kill Casey Stratton and Jacob Grant." She tapped a few keys on a nearby computer and pulled up the results. A perfect match.

"Any fingerprints?" Danny asked, while Flack hung back a little, out of his comfort zone.

"Yeah, two sets." Tapping a few more keys on the keyboard, she pulled up the results of the search. "Casey's father- but I rang his precinct and his alibi checked out. And-" she paused, pulling up the second match. "George Stratton. He was arrested three years ago on a minor assault charge- did some community service. Nothing since."

"So we're got him," Flack said.

"Well he had access to the weapon- and the opportunity to place it back in his father's study." Lindsay said.

Danny grimaced. "Yeah, but he's not talkin'. And DNA'll be another day or two."

"Does he have an alibi?" Lindsay asked.

"He said he was at home but his roommate didn't get home till three in the mornin'- he could have killed Jacob and made it home on time. And we got these," he placed a bag of taped on the table. "Footage from the bar they were at that night. And from the store across the road- it has an outside camera that should show the way they left."

"I'll get the popcorn," Flack said, rolling his eyes.

Lindsay pulled the tapes out of the bag. "I'll take these down to A/V. Don't you have your own work to do?" she asked Flack, grinning.

He coughed, his expression suddenly uncertain. "Yeah, I do. Keep me posted." He left without any further goodbyes.

Lindsay frowned after him. "What's up with him?"

Danny glanced after his friend briefly before turning back to his girlfriend. "Flack? Who knows?" he said with a grin. "Want some company to go through the tapes?"

"You bet."

------------------------

Just a shorty, but a goody (I hope!). Poor Flack. I'm not being very nice to him, am I? Nearly there now- only one more chapter to go to wrap everything up.


	7. Chapter 7

The next evening, DNA results in, Danny and Lindsay met Flack back outside the bar George worked. The blood drops on Jacob's jacket, most likely left behind by the killer, had come back as a partial match to Casey Stratton. A close male relative.

Added to that was the video footage of all four young men heading away from the bar together- and into the park.

He wasn't surprised to see them. "Anything I can get you, detectives?" he asked them from behind the counter.

Flack crooked his fingers. "Come on, George, we don't want a fuss."

The young man grimaced and placed the glass he was holding down behind the bar. "Yeah, okay."

He walked around to the other side of the bar where Danny was waiting with handcuffs. As he snapped them around George's wrists, Trey came out from the back room and saw what was happening. Dropping a case of something that smashed as it hit the ground, he ran over to them.

"George, what the hell?" he asked, distressed.

"I killed Jacob, Trey, I'm sorry," George said, ignoring the police officers around him. "I had to. He shot Casey."

"Goddammit," Trey said. He tried to get closer to them but Flack held him back. "What happens now?" he asked the detective.

"He'll be charged with murder."

"No!" The young man fought against Flack's hold, as tears began to run down his face. "George," he called out as Danny and Lindsay escorted him from the bar. "I love you."

By the time they loaded him into the waiting police car, George was crying too. "I was just so angry," he sobbed after Lindsay read him his rights. "He killed Casey. What was I meant to do?"

Back at the precinct, Flack and Danny took his statement.

"It was meant to be fun. Me and Case and David always hung out together, you know? He was my best friend as well as my brother. When I told my parents I was gay he was the only one who didn't turn his back on me. It was only later I found out that he was gay too.

"I took the gun months ago, for protection. I didn't tell my father because we don't talk anymore. I had the gun with me that night, and when we were all wasted I bought it out and was showing it off, I guess. I don't really know how Jacob got it. We were split up as we walked through the park. I just heard the shot and ran straight towards it.

"When I got there Casey was on the ground and David was holding him, just crying his eyes out. He really loved Case, I could tell. He was the first boyfriend of my brother's that I actually liked.

"When he told me what happened I just took off. I ran after the bastard, and I caught up with him too. He wasn't even trying to escape, just walking along as if nothing had happened.

"I jumped him, tried to get the gun back, but he fought me. He punched me in the nose but I got the gun off him, and I shot him. He was trying to run away and I shot him in the back. Then I shot him again, and I- I made sure he was dead.

"I was going to go back and check on Case but then I heard sirens in the distance, and I just bolted. The next day I went back to my parents to put the gun back in the study and mum was crying. Case had died.

"I'm not sorry I shot him. He deserved to die. He killed my brother just because he was gay. He wasn't hurting anyone. He was just living his life. He was happy."

As George Stratton was lead away in handcuffs, Danny headed back to his office. He stopped in the doorway and just watched Lindsay work for a moment. Sensing him behind her, she turned around.

"Hey," she said softly, "how did it go?" She held out a hand and he took it, walking closer to her.

"He confessed."

"He killed his brother's killer," Lindsay said. "Oh Danny."

She knew, of course she knew, how this case would affect him. She stood and pulled him to her, wrapping her arms around him. They stood there, in full view of anyone who walked by, for a few long moments, and as they did, he felt his heart crack open.

"Come on," she said as she pulled away. "Let's go have a drink at Sullivan's."

He held her hand in his, searching her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"I told you Danny, it was stupid. I just freaked out a little. I just needed to know you were with me. And you are. I don't care what anyone says about us. Even if it is your annoying best friend." She rolled her eyes and grinned to show him she was joking.

"Really?"

"Really."

He watched her a little longer. "Okay then. But Montana?" He pulled her back to him as she moved to step away. "Don't ever think that somethin' you're worrying about is stupid, okay? If it's worryin' you it ain't stupid."

She smiled and nodded. Then she kissed him. "Okay, Danny."

He wrapped her hand around his, and they walked out together.

------------------------

The bar was loud, with a stereo in the corner pumping out music, a tv near the bar tuned to a game and raucous conversation between a few dozen cops, relaxing after a long shift.

Danny and Lindsay, still holding hands, weaved their way through the crowd to their usual table, where Flack was telling some kind of story. "And then I said... oh, hey Monroe, Messer," he said, interrupting himself suddenly.

"Hey Flack," Lindsay said, smiling. A spare seat was found and she sat down. Danny rested his hands on her shoulders for a moment, leaning down to whisper in her ear, making sure he got her drink order right. Then he headed off to the bar and Lindsay turned her attention back to the group in front of her.

Flack had obviously finished his tale and the group laughed while Stella and Becca, sitting next to Hawkes across the table from Lindsay, rolled their eyes.

"Hey, I heard you guys solved the case," Stella said to Lindsay and Flack. "Well done."

Lindsay smiled while Flack shrugged. "Guy confessed as soon as I cuffed him. Wasn't exactly the result we wanted."

"You put a killer away," Becca, always the hard headed cop, disagreed. "Even if he only did it because the guy killed his brother, he needed to pay for what he did."

"Yeah, it doesn't help the family though," Lindsay said, agreeing with Flack and sending him a smile. "They lost both their sons that night."

An arm reached around her shoulder, placing the beer down in front of her. She smiled up at him. "Thanks Danny."

She thought she heard Flack say something, but when she looked over at him he had closed his mouth. She raised her eyebrows. "What was that?"

He shook his head, pulling back as if to distance himself from the situation. "Nothin', I didn't say nothin'."

He glanced up behind her for a moment and she turned, suddenly realizing what had happened. She caught Danny glaring at his best friend and he turned to smile at her innocently.

She shook her head. "Daniel Messer, I told you not to say anything!"

He had the grace to look a little repentant, but she didn't believe it for a minute. When she turned around the rest of the table was laughing. Stella grinned. "About time he had someone to put him in his place," she said to the group as a whole, but Lindsay ignored her.

"Don, I'm sorry. I told him not to bother you."

He shrugged, still looking a little uncomfortable. "It's no problem, Linds."

She leaned forward. "No it's not. I won't muzzle you, Flack. Say whatever you want, I can take it. And I promise whatever Danny said, he was mistaken." She shot a glance over her shoulder, half exasperated, half loving.

"Whatever I want, eh?" he said, grinning.

Lindsay laughed. "You can try at least. But you might not want to get us on your bad side." She indicated herself, Stella and Becca, both of whom grinned and nodded.

He mock shivered. "Whatever you say, Monroe. Or should that be Mrs Messer?"

And she laughed.

---------------------------

And that's all folks. As always, let me know what you think.

Coming up next in Climb This Mountain- It's murder on the dancefloor, baby!


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